


Bridge This Gap

by BossToaster (ChaoticReactions)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Card Games, Drifting, Gen, In the Pacific Rim sense, Team Bonding, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-02
Updated: 2017-03-02
Packaged: 2018-09-27 19:44:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10043210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaoticReactions/pseuds/BossToaster
Summary: Forming Voltron comes with side effects.A birthday fic





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mumblefox](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mumblefox/gifts).



> Note: The concepts of this are based on MumbleFox's [The Gravity in Everything](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8309233)

“Can we agree on something?” Hunk asked, eyes closed.  He wobbled as Lance pressed against his side, nearly toppling over against the hallway wall.  “Can we just... can we not separate, anymore?  Just be Voltron forever.  No more having to get up at weird hours, then get woken up again, and then  _ again. _  Just sleep in there, that way when we win, we can go right to bed instead of wasting time getting comfortable and then getting ripped away.”

Shiro blinked open his eyes and considered Hunk, then slumped right back down, putting his total concentration on putting each foot in front of the other.  “I’ll take it under advisement.”

Grumbling, Lance elbowed Hunk in the side, his bottom lip jutted out.  “That means no.”

“Good,” Keith returned, eyeing them blearily.  “You really want to be in each other’s heads all the time?”

Hunk tilted his head up, considering it. Keith could feel the mechanisms of Hunk’s mind working, slower than usual.  “I mean, it kinda feels like it sometimes.  S’close after.  S’close now.  Still there, all of you.”

“It’s not the same,” Pidge replied.  “It’s like an echo.  M’with Keith.  Space is good. You can’t be like this all the time.”

Shiro nodded.  “Few problems with the idea,” he admitted, an apology in his voice.

“You guys.  You need to stop being so logistical and reasonable.  It’s killing the friend vibe, here.  Roll with it.”  Lance nudged Pidge, who shot him a flat glare in return.  Frowning, he let her take a few steps ahead, then nudged Keith instead, who knocked him back with more strength.  “Hey!”

“If you two fight I’m throwing you out an airlock,” Shiro told them both, voice falling into a growl.

Hunk chuckled.  “He’ll turn this Voltron around.”

“Do  _ not _ start with the dad jokes or I’ll throw you out with them.”

Shuddering at the idea, Hunk nodded contritely.  

“Fine,” Lance groaned, flapping a hand at them.  “Be that way.  Killjoys.  I’m going to go to bed before Allura wakes us up for emergency drills.”

Pidge scrubbed over her face, shoulders slumping.  “Don’t say that outloud, you might give her ideas.”

Yawning, Keith nodded.  “I’m going to head in too.  I’m exhausted..”

“Same here,” Hunk replied.  He yawned too, wincing as he did.  “Ugh, contagious.  Though bets are off on sleeping well tonight.”  He gestured between them all, a circular, floppy motion.

Keith paused, then groaned.  With the sheer number of times they’d formed Voltron in the past 48 hours, the connection was likely to be strong for a few hours yet at least.  And that meant shared dreams.  It wasn’t the worst thing in the world, since they regularly saw the inside of each other’s head anyway, but it was annoying anyway.  Keith would prefer his dreams stay in his own head, please.

Next to him, Shiro suddenly stilled.  

It only took Keith a moment longer to figure out why.  After a battle, none of their dreams were liable to be pretty.  And even if Shiro didn’t start the night off in a nightmare, anyone who had so much as an anxious dream was likely to set him off and drag the rest of them along for the ride.

Already, he was slowing down and pulling back from the group, no doubt planning on ducking away so no one could see that he was avoiding going to bed.

Keith opened his mouth but paused, not sure what to do about that.  He wasn’t sure how he was supposed to bring something like this up, not in the group.  If it was just him and Shiro they could have just talked, but dragging him away now would be just as bad.  Maybe if he talked to him later-

“Well, if you guys want to go to bed, you’re welcome to,” Pidge said, brows rising.  “But I don’t feel like it when we’ll probably be dragged up in an hour for some other disaster.  Screw it, I’m going to go try and figure out that Altean card game again.”

Glancing at Pidge in surprise, Keith bit back a smile.

Maybe he didn’t have to say anything.  Maybe someone was already onboard.

It was nice to remember he didn’t have to be the one to do everything anymore  They were a team.

“That sounds way better than sleeping, actually,” Lance agreed.  “Hunk, buddy, you sure you wanna go to bed?  We could use that brain of yours to keep track of the cards again.”

Hunk yawned again, this time hard enough to crack his jaw. Keith had to clench his own against a mirror.  It was Lance who caught it this time, eyes scrunching and tongue curling like a cat around the noise.  “Mmm.  I could do a couple of rounds, if we’re going to do something fun.  What about you guys?”  He arched his brows at Keith and Shiro, his lips curling up softly.

“Really, guys, you need your-”

“In,” Keith interrupted.  “Why not?  If Pidge is right, going to bed now will be worse.  We’ll give it a little while before we got to sleep.”  He arched his brows at Shiro, head tilted, and he couldn’t help the hint of a smirk.  They weren’t exactly being subtle, but their logic was tight enough that Shiro couldn’t call them out on it, even if he could feel the lie.

Catching his gaze, Shiro’s expression softened into that proud look he always got when Keith bested him.  “Alright.  One round.”

“Awesome.”  Pidge bustled into the rec room, already tapping on one of the consoles to turn on the lights and pull up the screens.  Now that they were all concentrating on something other than  _ bed time _ , he could feel her curiosity rising, her mind picking up as she remembered their last theories on how the Altean game was played.

Hunk’s mind brightened in response, a sympathetic, nearly trained response, offering his own impressions and memories like shining gemstones.  “Might be easier like this, actually.  Less having to communicate.”

Scrubbing his hands over his eyes to try and work out the after images, Keith sat down on the couch, leaning against the armrest.  Shiro sat down next to him, flopping down with enough force that it made Keith bounce.  He felt rather than saw Shiro’s amused response, and Keith grumpily imagined Red putting her paw down on the other side, sending Shiro flying like a cartoon.

Lance must have picked up on it, because he burst into laughter and flopped down as well.  “You want us to be down a couch?”

“Let’s not,” Pidge replied easily, not even looking back at them, but there was a sensation like being pushed back with a broom.  Lance stuck his tongue out at her, and she returned the gesture without turning her head so they could see.  After a moment, the game popped up onto the screen, along with two others just for keeping notes.  Pidge sat on the other armrest, legs bent to the side and a projected screen at her fingertips, while Hunk settled down next to Lance.

There was the mental image of Pidge riding a horse sidesaddle, trying to type on her laptop at the same time from Shiro, and he only grinned at her flat look.

“Ready to start?”  Hunk asked, and he reached over into Pidge’s space to tap the button to deal the cards.  For once, she didn’t so much as blink at the intrusion.

Keith had never really thought about what it would be like to be connected and focus on something other than a mission or training.  Those tasks were suitable complicated enough for five minds, each with their own distinct job.  Like this, it was a five way venn diagram, their concentration overlapping into doubles and triples, until it was difficult to tell anyone’s thoughts from another.

Honestly, it was like they were all trying to talk over each other and say the same thing.  Considering all of them were looking at their five cards and none of them were calling them the same things, it was more than a little chaotic.

_ Patience yields focus. _

Shiro snorted and glanced at him, apparently having no trouble telling where that thought came from.  “You’re right, though.  Wait.  Who- why is the one on the far left the horse card?”

“Horsie,” Pidge corrected flatly.  She arched a brow at Hunk, who shrugged.  In response he went the mental image of horseshoe prints in mud, all overlapping over each other until they made a chaotic shape out of several ‘u’s, all going in different directions.  The symbol on the card wasn’t identical, but it was close.

Lance tilted his head.  “Huh.  Doesn’t excuse the horsie name, though.”

“I was five,” Hunk replied.  “I liked the word.  I wasn’t gunna  _ call _ it that.  It’s just what it reminds me of.”

Keith reached out and tapped the air just as Pidge did the same on her console, and they played the horseshoe card.

“Horsie,” Lance corrected, still dripping amusement like a dog shaking water out of his fur.

Hunk’s building embarrassment was washed away by four found thoughts, all warm if teasing.  He shot them a sheepish look and shrugged.  “Why play that one?”

“Why not?” Keith replied.  “Let’s see what it does.”

The three computer players put down cards as well, and one laid down two.  Keith had no idea how or why, but it did.

Pidge frowned, thinking about dealers and double blinds, while Lance offered paired moves, and maybe those cards had a relationship.  

Hmm.

The two card hand flashed orange, while other two shone blue, and their own turned green.  They held that for a moment, then all the cards disappeared from the table, and scores tallied up.

“I think the horsie card won,” Hunk said, brows up.  

“Why?” Pidge and Shiro both muttered, in the exact same tone.  It was probably Shiro’s thought, judging by the inflection.

“Because horses are cool,” Lance decided, pushing the thought back away.  “Let’s do the one that looks like someone stepped on a smiley face next.”

They continued on, Pidge typing up notes from each round and giving increasingly strange descriptions of the cards, based on whoever’s first thought was most amusing.  Then she had to pause from the strength of a yawn, blinking blearily, and Keith could feel her fading.

They all were, but no one wanted to admit it.

Except for the fond warmth from Shiro, mixed with something that tasted bitter.  “Guys.  Go to bed.  I’ll be alright.”

“No.” Lance replied, simply as that, like a bucket of water poured over embers.  “The floppy hat card won last time we played it, do that one again.”

Shiro’s eyes narrowed as his frustration began to climb.  Rolling his eyes, Keith grabbed onto his shoulder and tugged him over, until he unbalanced and slid sideways.  Their temples pressed together, and when Shiro turned to look at Keith, their foreheads met.  “If you want to sleep, then sleep.  We’re good.”

On Shiro’s other side, Lance flopped bonelessly along Shiro like he was some kind of oddly shaped pillow.  He still didn’t look away from the screen as Pidge slid sideways, sprawling halfway on Hunk’s lap and picked the floppy hat card.  This time it lost, and Lance let out a little whine of annoyance.

There was quiet caution to Shiro’s thoughts, nearly skittish, as Keith responded by yanking on him again, even if it knocked their heads together.

_ Stay, _ he thought.  And he hadn’t meant it, but the word scraped against other memories, times Shiro had left, even when he hadn’t meant to.  They glowed for a moment like embers off of flint and steel, before dying back down into dark stillness.

Keith didn’t have time to feel embarrassed at the slip, because it was drowned out by the immediate, protective surge from Shiro.

_ Okay, _ his thoughts said, and Shiro stayed warm and heavy against his side.

On the other side of the couch, the other three shifted together, Pidge settling in between Lance and Hunk and making a show about getting comfortable, doing their best to give their emotions as much privacy as possible.  But Keith could still feel their agreement and sympathy like a heartbeat.

Just to be a shit, he yawned without the physical need for it.

Lance yawned in response, followed shortly by Shiro.  “Dammit, it’s hard enough when it’s real.”  Lance turned so his back was along Shiro’s and his legs flopped over both Pidge and Hunk, cozy despite how boney Shiro’s spine apparently felt.  “Don’t make it worse.”

“Are we giving up, then?” Pidge asked, although she could already feel the answer, no doubt.

“Just a break,” Hunk replied, even as he snuggled back against the couch cushions.  

In the back of his mind, Keith could suddenly see a backyard with thick green grass and summer sunshine.  A dog tore off after a bouncing ball that had been hidden behind a back rather than actually thrown.  Behind them, someone laughed and told Katie not to tease.

Gunther, Shiro recognized, and Keith smiled with the force of his affection and Lance’s dizzying rush of fondness.

The dog came back, dancing in place and eyeing Pidge hopefully, and this time she threw the ball.  Gunther followed the path with such enthusiasm the grass tore up under his paws.

It was a nice memory.  And more importantly, it was a safe one.  It transitioned into stargazing in the desert night, climbing trees high enough to see fields below, singing along with a peppy pop song on the radio, practicing a trick in dance lessons.  A cycle of gentle memories, lazy and calm.

None of them had nightmares that night.


End file.
